Prehistoric pits are filled with ancient topsoil material, which has been preserved there over millennia. A characteristic of these pit fillings is that their colour is different depending on the time the soil material was relocated. Soil colour is the result of soil forming processes and soil properties, and it could therefore indicate the soil characteristics present during that specific period. To the best of our knowledge, no investigation analysed and explained the reasons for these soil colour changes over time. The proposed project will investigate soil parameters from pit fillings of different archaeological periods in the loess area of the Lower Rhine Basin (NW-Germany). It aims to implement the measurement of colour spectra as a novel analytical tool for the rapid analyses of a high number of soil samples: the main goal is to relate highresolution colour data measured by a spectrophotometer to soil parameters that were analysed by conventional pedogenic methods and by mid infrared spectroscopy (MIRS), with a main focus on charred organic matter (BPCAs). This tool would enable us to quantify the variation of soil properties over a timescale of several millennia, during different prehistoric periods at regional scale and for loess soils in general. Detailed information concerning changing soil properties on a regional scale is necessary to determine past soil quality and it helps to increase our understanding of prehistoric soil cultivation practices. Furthermore, these information could also help to increase our understanding about agricultural systems in different archaeological periods.
We study the effects of plants and root-associated fungi on wind erosion within the alpine environment of Tibet. China is one of the countries most affected by desertification processes and Tibet, in particular, a key region in desertification combat. The presented project focuses on the Barkha Plain surrounded by Mount Kailash and the Lake of Manasarovar (Ngari Prefecture). This Western Tibet region experienced little scientific attention but, nowadays, faces rapidly increasing touristic activities and expanding local settlements associated with socio-economic changes that are serious threats to the delicate ecological balance and potential triggers of desertification. It exists almost unanimous agreement that revegetation is the most efficient and promising strategy to combat wind erosion and desertification in the long term. However, re-colonising success is often poor, mainly under extreme environmental conditions. Compared to conventional practices, the approach of the presented project attains better accordance with natural succession processes and promises acceleration of both plant and soil development and, conclusively, more efficient desertification control. The project assesses the potential of native plants and symbiotic fungi to control wind erosion and desertification processes. It aims to identify key plants and fungi that increase soil aggregate stability and efficiently drive succession into a natural and self-maintaining cycle of the ecosystem. Furthermore, it provides crucial information for implementing environmentally compatible and cost-effective measures to protect high-elevation ecosystems against desertification. Within three successional stages (early, intermediate, late), field investigations are performed on the basis of Modified-Whittaker plots. Classic methods of vegetation analysis and myco-sociology are combined with analysis of distribution patterns at different scales (patchiness, connectivity). Comprehensive soil analysis is performed comprising grain size distribution, aggregate stability, pH as well as water and nutrient contents. Additionally, important parameters of wind erosion are measured concurrently and continuously to assess their magnitude and variability with respect to vegetation and soil at different levels of development. The parameters addressed, include sediment transport, air temperature, radiation, precipitation, relative humidity as well as speed and direction of wind. Surface moisture is recorded periodically and roughness described. Species and environmental parameters are checked for spatial correlation. Cutting edge technologies are applied in laboratory work, comprising molecular methods for fungal species identification and micro-tomography to analyse soil structure. Furthermore, successfully cultivated fungi and plants are subject of synthesis experiments and industrial propagation in view of practical implementation in restoration measures.
The CHAMP mission provided a great amount of geomagnetic data all over the globe from 2000 to 2010. Its dense data coverage has allowed us to build GRIMM - GFZ Reference Internal Magnetic Model - which has the highest ever resolution for the core field in both space and time. We have already modeled the fluid flow in the Earth's outer core by applying the diffusionless magnetic induction equation to the latest version of GRIMM, to find that the flow evolves on subdecadal timescales, with a remarkable correlation to the observed fluctuation of Earth rotation. These flow models corroborated the presence of six-year torsional oscillations in the outer core fluid. Torsional oscillation (TO) is a type of hydromagnetic wave, theoretically considered to form the most important element of decadal or subdecadal core dynamics. It consists of relative azimuthal rotations of rigid fluid annuli coaxial with the mantle's rotation and dynamically coupled with the mantle and inner core. In preceding works, the TOs have been studied by numerical simulations, either with full numerical dynamos, or solving eigenvalue problems ideally representing the TO system. While these studies drew insights about dynamical aspects of the modeled TOs, they did not directly take into account the observations of geomagnetic field and Earth rotation. Particularly, there have been no observation-based studies for the TO using satellite magnetic data or models. In the proposed project, we aim at revealing the subdecadal dynamics and energetics of the Earth's core-mantle system on the basis of satellite magnetic observations. To that end, we will carry out four work packages (1) to (4), for all of which we use GRIMM. (1) We perform timeseries analyses of core field and flow models, to carefully extract the signals from TOs at different latitudes. (2) We refine the conventional flow modeling scheme by parameterizing the magnetic diffusion at the core surface. Here, the diffusion term is reinstated in the magnetic induction equation, which is dynamically constrained by relating it to the Lorentz term in the Navier-stokes equation. (3) We develop a method to compute the electromagnetic core-mantle coupling torque on the core fluid annuli, whereby the energy dissipation due to the Joule heating is evaluated for each annulus. This analysis would provide insights on whether the Earth's TOs are free or forced oscillations. (4) Bringing together physical implications and computational tools obtained by (1) to (3), we finally construct a dynamical model for the Earth's TOs and core-mantle coupling such that they are consistent with GRIMM and Earth rotation observation. This modeling is unique in that the force balances concerning the TOs are investigated in time domain, as well as that the modeling also aims at improving the observation-based core flow model by considering the core dynamics.
The sorption of anions in geotechnical multibarrier systems of planned high level waste repositories (HLWR) and of non-ionic and organic pollutants in conventional waste disposals are in the center of recent research. In aquatic systems, persistent radionuclides such as 79Se, 99Tc, 129I exist in a form of anions. There is strongly increasing need to find materials with high sorption capacities for such pollutants. Specific requirements on barrier materials are long-term stability of adsorbent under various conditions such as T > 100 C, varying hydrostatic pressure, and the presence of competing ions. Organo-clays are capable to sorb high amounts of cations, anions and non-polar molecules simultaneously having selectivity for certain ions. This project is proposed to improve the understanding of sorption and desorption processes in organo-clays. Additionally, the modification of material properties under varying chemical and thermal conditions will be determined by performing diffusion and advection experiments. Changes by sorption and diffusion will be analyzed by determining surface charge and contact angles. Molecular simulations on models of organo-clays will be conducted in an accord with experiments with aim to understand and analyze experimental results. The computational part of the project will profit from the collaboration of German partner with the group in Vienna, which has a long standing experience in a modeling of clay minerals.
Research question: Agri-environment schemes play an increasingly important role in European CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) to support biodiversity and environment in agricultural landscapes. They have been implemented since 1992 and now cost a yearly 1.7 billion Euro. Still, there is no conclusive evidence that these schemes actually do contribute to the conservation of particularly biodiversity. The primary objective of this project is to evaluate the (cost-) effectiveness of European agri-environment schemes in protecting biodiversity and to determine the primary processes that determine their effectiveness. This project furthermore aims to determine how CAP may be introduced in candidate EU-members without unacceptable loss of biodiversity. It will provide simple guidelines how researchers, governmental authorities may efficiently evaluate agri-environmental measures. Aim: Agri-environment schemes have been used to protect biodiversity and environment in agricultural areas since 1992. Their effectiveness has never been reliably evaluated. This project aims to evaluate the (cost-)effectiveness of agri-environment schemes with respect to biodiversity conservation in five European countries. It will determine the proper scales that have to be addressed for conservation efforts for a range of species groups. It will determine the most important environmental factors that influence the effectiveness of the schemes. Based on this, recommendations will be made how the effectiveness of schemes may be improved and simple guidelines will be produced how ecological effects of agri-environment schemes can be evaluated efficiently by governmental authorities or other institutions. The ecological effects of the introduction of CAP in a candidate EU-member will be investigated to reduce negative side effects of anticipated land-use changes Scientific methods: We will examine the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes by surveying pairs of fields: a field with an agri-environment scheme and a nearby field that is conventionally managed. In five countries, in each country in three areas, and in each area on seven pairs of fields the species richness of birds, plants and three insect groups (pollinators, herbivores, predators) will be determined. Effects of schemes on pollination efficiency and pest control will be examined using indicator communities. Correlative studies will examine the effects of landscape structure, land-use intensity and species pool on the effectiveness of agri-environmental measures. The spatial scale that is relevant to nature conservation efforts will be investigated via the spatial distribution of species groups. The results will be used to formulate recommendations how to improve the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes and to construct a set of simple guidelines how schemes can be evaluated efficiently yet reliably.
Zur Bestimmung der Konzentrationen linearer Alkylbenzolsulfonate (LAS) und Alkylethersulfate (AES) in Kläranlagenabläufen wurden 7-Tagesmischproben (n=33) an Abläufe von 33 konventionellen Kläranlagen in Deutschland genommen. Zudem wurden an vier der untersuchten Kläranlagen die Zuläufe beprobt und ebenfalls auf LAS und AES untersucht, um Rückschlüsse auf die Entfernung dieser Tenside in konventionellen Kläranlagen ziehen zu können. Insgesamt umfasste die Studie die Analyse von vier LAS-Homologen (C10-C13) sowie von jeweils 10 Ethoxymeren zweier Homologe von AES (C12 und C14, jeweils mit 0-9 Ethoxygruppen). Die Probenvorbereitung bestand aus der Entfernung der wässrigen Phase mit Hilfe eines Rotations-Vakuum-Konzentrators und anschließender Resolvatisierung des Trockenrückstandes in einer definierten Menge Reinstwasser und Acetonitril. Die Identifikation und Quantifizierung der Zielanalyten erfolgte mittels Hochleistungsflüssigkeitschromatographie mit Tandem-Massenspektrometrie-Kopplung (HPLC-MS/MS). Die Leistungsfähigkeit der analytischen Methoden wurde in Leitungswasser und Kläranlagenablauf evaluiert. Die Analysemethoden zeigten für beide Matrices eine allgemein gute Richtigkeit sowie Präzision. Basierend auf den geschätzten mittleren Konzentrationen einzelner LAS-Homologe wurde eine mittlere Gesamtkonzentration von 14,4 Mikro g/L in Kläranlagenabläufen ermittelt. Verglichen mit LAS, wurden für AES stets geringere Gesamtkonzentrationen im Ablauf gemessen: Die mittlere AES-Gesamtkonzentration in den Abläufen betrug 0,57 Mikro g/L. Zwischen den Gesamtkonzentrationen von AES und LAS bestand keine Korrelation. In den Zuläufen beprobter Kläranlagen wurden im Mittel 3.200 Mikro g/L LAS detektiert. Damit betrug die mittlere Entfernung für LAS 99,6 %. Die mittlere AES-Konzentration im Kläranlagenzulauf belief sich auf 680 Mikro g/L, was einer mittleren AES-Entfernung von größer als 99.9% entspricht. Retrospektives Screening von 1.564 Tensiden und deren Transformationsprodukte (TPs) erfolgte durch ein zweites Labor unter Anwendung der Ultrahochleistungsflüssigkeitschromatographie mit Flugzeitmassenspektrometer-Kopplung (UHPLC-QTOF-MS). In vielen Fällen wurde die Konzentration von LAS von der Summe der Konzentrationen der Neben- und Transformationsprodukte von LAS überstiegen. Für die LAS-Nebenprodukte Dialkyltetralinsulfonate (DATS) lag die maximale Summenkonzentration bei 19 Mikro g/L, für die Sulfophenylalkylcarbonsäuren (SPACs) bei 17 Mikro g/L und für die Sulfotetralinalkylcarbonsäuren (STACs) bei 5,3 Mikro g/L. Hohe Konzentrationen von bis zu 7,4 Ìg/L wurden für Polyethylenoglycole in den Abwasserproben bestimmt. Die Gesamtkonzentration aller quantifizierten Tenside, TPs und Nebenprodukte in einer einzelnen Probe betrug bis zu 82 Mikro g/L.
Context: With increasing global change pressures, and due to existing limitations, and un-sustainability factors and risks of conventional urban water management (UWM), cities experience difficulties in efficiently managing the ever scarcer water resources, their uses/services, and their after-use disposal, without creating environmental, social and/or economic damage. In order to meet these challenges, SWITCH calls for a paradigm shift in UWM. There is a need to convert adhoc actions (problem/incident driven) into a coherent and consolidated approach (sustainability driven). This calls for an IP Approach. Research conceptSWITCH therefore proposes an action research project which has as a main objective: The development, application and demonstration of a range of tested scientific, technological and socio-economic solutions and approaches that contribute to the achievement of sustainable and effective UWM schemes in 'The City of the future'.The project will be implemented by different combinations of consortium partners, along the lines of seven complementary and interactive themes. The research approach is innovative for the combination of: action research: address problems through innovation based upon involvement of users.learning alliances: to link up stakeholders to interact productively and to create win-win solutions along the water chain; multiple-way learning: European cities learn from each other and from developing countries, and vice versa.multiple-level or integrated approach: to consider the urban water system and its components (city level) in relation to its impacts on, and dependency of, the natural environment in the river basin (river basin level), and in relation to Global Change pressures (global level).Instruments and scopeAn IP with 30 partners, their resources, and a total budget of 25,191,396 EURO including budget for demonstration activities in 9 Cities in Europe and developing countries. Prime Contractor: UNESCO - Institute for Water Education, Delf, Netherlands.
The ATAAC project aims at improvements to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods for aerodynamic flows used in today's aeronautical industry. The accuracy of these is limited by insufficient capabilities of the turbulence modelling / simulation approaches available, especially at the high Reynolds numbers typical of real-life flows. As LES will not be affordable for such flows in the next 4 decades, ATAAC focuses on approaches below the LES level, namely Differential Reynolds Stress Models (DRSM), advanced Unsteady RANS models (URANS), including Scale-Adaptive Simulation (SAS), Wall-Modelled LES, and different hybrid RANS-LES coupling schemes, including the latest versions of DES and Embedded LES. The resources of the project will be concentrated exclusively on flows for which the current models fail to provide sufficient accuracy, e.g. in stalled flows, high lift applications, swirling flows (delta wings, trailing vortices), buffet etc. The assessment and improvement process will follow thoroughly conceived roadmaps linking practical goals with corresponding industrial application challenges and with modelling/simulation issues through stepping stones represented by appropriate generic test cases. The final goals of ATAAC are: - to recommend one or at most two best DRSM for conventional RANS and URANS- to provide a small set of hybrid RANS-LES and SAS methods that can be used as reference turbulence-resolving approaches in future CFD design tools - to formulate clear indications of areas of applicability and uncertainty of the proposed approaches for aerodynamic applications in industrial CFD - Contributing to reliable industrial CFD tools, ATAAC will have a direct impact on the predictive capabilities in design and optimisation, and directly contribute to the development of Greener Aircraft.
Building Materials are a basic need, which is often difficult to meet in developing countries. Concrete is the building material best suited to meet these demands, although cement, the central ingredient is often disproportionately expensive in developing counties. The most promising option to lower costs (and environmental impact) is to blend conventional Portland cement with pozzolanic materials. The aim of this project is to develop technologies appropriate for the small scale, local production of pozzolans from clay (a material widely available) in conjunction with the exploitation of waste biomass for combined heat and power production. The modular concept of a clay activation unit, CAU to be coupled with a biomass boiler, will give the flexibility to adapt the solution to local conditions. We have already demonstrated that relatively common (low grade) clayey soils can be activated to give a pozzolan similar in performance to fly ash (from coal fired electricity production) widely used in the developed world. Results also indicate that it is possible to improve their reactivity by using and optimizing flash calcination, to allow high levels of substitution and very significant improvements in cost/performance ratio. To achieve this we need also to look at the performance of the activated clays in concrete from the point of view of rheology, hardening and durability to enable optimum cost/performance to be achieved according to local materials and applications. The partnership between LMC, EPFL and two academic groups in Cuba has already been established in a previous project. Furthermore, one of the Cuban partners plays a leading role in ECOSUR (a Swiss NGO) which has established workshops, producing low cost building materials, in many developing countries. In the first part of the project significant scientific advances were made, which enabled a huge acceleration in progress, relative to previous work by the Cuban partners alone. In addition, 3 Cuban PhD students spent several months working in the Swiss laboratory and have now returned to Cuba to continue their research. In this project, funding is requested for one PhD student to be based in Switzerland, who will work closely with 3 Cuban PhD Student (funded be the Cuban government). On the Cuban side, funds are requested for essential equipment and to fund the stays of the students at EPFL. Each of the Cuban students will spend 4-8 months working at EPFL during the course of the project.
Luminescence dating methods using quartz may suffer from i) incomplete optical resetting (bleaching) of the latent signal at deposition, ii) limited saturation dose and,thus, limited time range using UV-A or blue emissions. The project objectives first consists in exploring and separating OSL emissions from quartz of different sensitivity to light and to isolate components suited for specific dating applications with the Linear Modulation technique. Rapid environmental change with or without human impact will be dated more precisely and more reliably using this sophisticated technique. Secondly it is tried to extend the upper dating limit by using orange-red TL emissions (RTL) from quartz extracted from heated samples (e.g., crustal xenoliths from volcanic eruptions) and from sediments which are too old for conventional OSL dating. Both approaches require fundamental research into the luminescence characteristics of (dose-saturated) quartz crystals from different geological origin (granitic, hydrothermal, sedimentary). Objectives in order: 1. Sampling and refining pure quartz from different geological and petrographic environments and from a well-studied last glacial loess section (Nussloch). 2. Investigating basic luminescence characteristics from different quartz of different origin, with focus on OSL components (LM-OSL) and red TL emissions (RTL). 3. Testing improved techniques (LM-OSL) to recognize incomplete or inhomogeneous signal resetting at deposition and to precisely determine the true burial dose. 4. Extending the upper limit of luminescence dating through use of RTL emissions from heated and from sedimentary quartz. 5. Improving and ensuring of dose rate calculations using different low-level methods including modeling of disequilibrium and spatial non-homogeneity if applicable. 6. Comparing dating results from loess with independent chronologies and other high resolution records of rapid climate change.
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